- Victor Wembanyama is the biggest young star in the NBA, and the San Antonio Spurs are building around their franchise big man.
- On Thursday, it was announced that Wemby will miss the rest of the season with a deep vein thrombosis, a type of blood clot, in his right shoulder.
- Wembanyama won’t be eligible for any awards as he won’t meet the required 65 games.
Victor Wembanyama is being built up as the next face of the NBA after living up to the early hype and having a fantastic sophomore season.
Unfortunately, “Wemby” and the Spurs received some bad news when he returned from the All-Star break. He’ll miss the rest of the season with a blood clot in his shoulder.
Wembanyama Diagnosed After All-Star Break, Spurs Believe It Was Caught in Time
The news was reported on Thursday afternoon.
This comes off the back of Wembanyama’s first All-Star appearance in his second season. The Paris, France native is averaging 24.3 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 46 games so far. Wembanyama is also averaging 3.8 blocks per game, which is 1.4 more than second-placed Walker Kessler of the Utah Jazz.
The Spurs found a deep vein thrombosis in Wembanyama’s right shoulder, a type of blood clot. The team believes this is just an isolated issue for Wembanyama, who just turned 21 on January 4. They also claimed in a team statement that they’ll send out updates as necessary. But they are “optimistic” that Wembanyama will be ready to go by next season.
What Does This Mean for “Wemby” and the Spurs?
It’s great that the Spurs and Wembanyama located this issue early enough for it to be taken care of. He’s still young, so it seems that Wembanyama will be able to recover and be back for next season. At least, that’s the early prognosis.
For this season, the Spurs sit at 23-29, which puts them in 12th in the Western Conference as they prepare to return to action on Thursday night at home against Phoenix. They also traded for De’Aaron Fox from Sacramento before the NBA trade deadline, and he had played just five games with Wembanyama.
They won’t get to work on their chemistry for a while now. The Spurs weren’t a threat in the NBA championship odds this season anyway. Now, they’ll struggle to make the playoffs.
Wembanyama will miss out on many individual accolades because he won’t meet the 65-game required limit for players to be eligible for awards. NBA DPOY odds had Wembanyama as the runaway favorite to win the award, one he should be favored in for the next decade if he can stay healthy.
He wasn’t in the running for NBA MVP odds, but Wembanyama was definitely up for one of the 15 spots on the three All-NBA teams.
For everyone involved, it’s a tough break. Wembanyama is probably in the top five or ten players that most fans want to watch, even if you’re not a fan of the Spurs. His insane height, athleticism, and instincts make him a joy to watch, and a headache to the opposition.
Wembanyama is also wildly competitive, and seemed to be the only player interested in trying during All-Star Weekend. Hopefully, this is just a bump in the road for what should be one of the NBA’s great players for the next 10–15 years.
